Things You Said At 1 AM
by LizzieTheRose
Summary: A chance meeting changes a life. However, for better or for worse is left to be seen. Suppose to be a one-shot, but I have ideas to keep it going. If I get enough reviews/follows, I may continue this. Requested by GoggleBoyNeptune on Tumblr. [Seasalt Ice Cream (NeptunexNeo) implications; Rated T (for now) for Swearing]


The moon was high in the sky as the land of Vale was cloaked in stars and black. It was mostly quiet except for the occasional siren and car horn. Quiet was nice; it didn't raise for alarm like the sirens in the distance.

"Why isn't he here…?" a soft voice mumbled in the dark edge of downtown Vale's park, "Did he decide this was stupid…? I'm not surprised though… We could very well be killed or jailed if we're caught…" White-colored eyes stared out from the bushes as the source of the voice waited to find who they waited for. "It's been half hour… We said one… I guess not…"

The eyes rose as a body materialized with them. It was a tiny frame of a female themed as Neapolitan ice cream, darkened by the night. The girl stepped out of the bushes, giving up on waiting for the other. Tears went down her face as she remembered how this all started.

* * *

It was three months ago during the breach. After Neo had escaped from Raven, she was running through the city streets to get to the safehouse. She ended up running into and knocking down a blue-haired boy who was running with a blond Faunus.

"Hey, are you okay?" the boy asked as he looked at her with concern, his friend long gone due to not noticing the clash.

Neo looked at his face and blinked. He was attractive at least, but she needed to focus on getting to the safehouse. She stood abruptly and was about to take off when the boy grabbed her arm.

"Hey, miss, I just wanna make sure you're okay." he insisted, "There's Grimm in the city. You shouldn't be out." The tri-colored girl glared at him and yanked her arm away, making him frown. "I'm sorry I'm just concerned for your safety."

"I don't need a prince to save me. I'm just fine on my own." Neo finally spoke, raising her parasol at him.

The boy blinked and tilted his head. "Are you a Huntress? Why aren't you fighting the Grimm?"

Neo choked on her breath, realizing she needed to make an excuse now. "I-I'm clearing the streets of pedestrians!" she lied, "Why aren't _you_ fighting the Grimm?"

"Cause I'm trying to make sure you're okay." he replied without a beat.

The tiny girl bit her lip and took a step back. "I'm fine!" she snapped.

The boy sighed and shook his head. "I don't get why you're being on the defense here. Come on; let's go kick some Grimm ass together, eh?" he offered, holding at his hand with a bit of a smile on his face, "I'm Neptune by the way." Neo continued to step away as Neptune only grew more confused and frustrated at her actions. "Fine then. Go off and do what you want." he grumbled, going through his pockets for something. He pulled out a receipt he had in his pocket and a pen he just carried around randomly. The Haven boy wrote something down on the back of the receipt and held it out for the mystery girl. "Here if you need help at all, don't hesitate to call me for back-up." he said, just giving her his signature toothy smile.

Neo hesitated for a moment, but took the paper. '_He's fucking with me, right?_' she asked herself, staring down at it.

"Well, see you later!" Neptune said before running off as Neo just stood there in disbelief at the whole thing.

* * *

The week following the breach, Neo felt like she was going insane. His stupid smile kept somehow crawling its way into her mind. '_No, no, no. I will not._' she kept telling herself, '_Enemies! You're enemies!_' However, she wouldn't listen and would find herself thinking about Neptune once again.

"Fine!" she growled one day, sitting in her apartment, "Just one conversation to get myself to stop!"

She dug the paper out of her nightstand drawer and laid on her bed staring at it and her scroll for a long time. Finally, she typed in the number into the recipient field before writing, "_Hey. It's the girl from the breach._" Another century of staring occurred before she actually hit send. She stared at her scroll for about five more minutes before groaning and dropping it on her nightstand, crumpling the receipt and tossing it across the room.

However, soon after, a ping generated from her scroll. The tiny girl sat up with a yelp and wide white eyes. She glanced at her nightstand, blinking multiple times. "Maybe it's just Cinder giving me an assignment…" she mumbled, reaching for the scroll.

However, the scroll read, "New Message from XXX-XXX-XXXX". He replied.

"_I was wondering when you would message me. I want to talk with you face to face if you don't mind._" he texted her, "_Can we meet somewhere? At like 1 A.M.?_"

A rendezvous at one in the morning? Why would he choose such a time? Neo frowned and replied, "_Why 1 A.M.?_"

A few minutes passed and she got a response, "_Because I think I know who you are._" The acrobat's blood ran cold as she stared wide eyed once again. He knew and she was stupid enough to give him her scroll number by messaging him. She got up frantically and started racing around her apartment to grab stuff she needed. However, another ping stopped her dead in her tracks. She walked slowly to her scroll again with a face filled with horror. The text said, "_I don't plan to tell anyone. Not yet anyway. Just let me talk to you face to face. Feel free to bring your weapon if you don't trust me._" A third text came and read, "_Meet me at the park downtown. 1 A.M. Don't forget._"

Neo collapsed to the ground, her body shaking. She fucked up. She needed to stay free, but she was caught. Cinder would not be happy about this. The illusionist curled up and begun to sob.

* * *

Five minutes until one in the morning and Neo was waiting in the bushes. She had spent the rest of the day between crying and packing clothes and other stuff she needed to take with her. She planned to go hid at a White Fang base for a while after this. The acrobat had also left her scroll at the apartment, knowing it would only be used to track her down.

A few minutes later, she saw the blue-haired boy enter the park and search for her. No one else seemed to be with him. Should she reveal herself? No, she'd hide and hopefully he wouldn't try to find the source of her voice.

"How do you know?" she called out from her hiding spot.

Neptune blinked a few times, looking around for where the girl was. When he didn't see her, he simply replied, "I did research in my spare time."

"What did you find?" she demanded.

"I found that there was a girl who looked like you. Her name was Neopolitan D'Enfer. She lost both her parents in a car accident, making her an orphan at age five." he started, "When she was thirteen, however, she attacked her peers in the orphanage and disappeared."

The tri-colored girl sat there in disbelief as she remembered the two worst days of her life. Suddenly, she cried out, "They bullied me endlessly since I arrived there! I fought back finally, but the caretakers turned a blind eye to why I retaliated! That's why… I ran away…"

Neptune's expression changed to one of concern for a second before returning to a neutral state. "If you know how it is to be bullied, why were you on the train fighting my friends, helping the criminals, the bullies of society?"

Neo popped out from her bush with a look of rage. "We're only aiming at the real bullies of society, the government! The Faunus, the poor, the unwanted! We're treated like shit because we're not like everyone else!" she shouted, tears going down her face.

The blue-haired boy glanced at the acrobat in pure shock at her answer. After a moment, he retained his composure and stepped towards her. "I guess you have a point… But killing and harming innocent people isn't how you get back at them…" he replied calmly, wrapping his arms around the tiny girl.

Now, it was Neo's turn to be shocked. Why was he hugging her? Was he going to kill her? She pulled away, grabbing her bag, and jumped back to create distance between them. "Things will never change if we sit around and do nothing…" she hissed.

"You don't have to sit around and do nothing. You can change things without harming those not involved, Neo."

"What the fuck can I do then?"

"You can fight them from the inside. There's a lot less murdering, but you can still rise against corrupted government officials and change things."

Neo turned away and shook her head. "I can't… I don't have the patience for that… I want results now…"

"The only result will be you getting in jail!"

The tri-colored girl looked back at him quietly before asking, "Why are you so concerned about me?"

"I may not know the pain of losing parents, of being bullied, but I've seen it in others. I hate seeing how it affects people and I want to help people react the _right_ way to it."

"There is no right way! You react how you react!" Neo snapped.

A pause as Neptune thought over her words. "I guess you're right, but there's a legal way and illegal way."

"I'm not going to change my mind…" she whispered, looking down.

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, "Then, how about this: just meet with me, be my friend? I promise I won't reveal you to the police."

The illusionist looked at the younger boy in shock. "If they find out, you'll get in trouble, too." she stated.

He shrugged, "I just want to try to help. If it means I get in trouble, so be it." She went silent for a long time as she tried to process what he said. "Neo?" Neptune called out, stepping towards her.

The tiny girl turned around and looked at him straight in the face. "Fine. I'll meet you again." she finally answered, "But if you betray me, I'll make sure that those who I work for know it was you who ratted me out. You do not want to be on their hit list."

Neptune smiled his toothy grin which caused Neo to bit her lip again. "Don't worry, sweetheart."

Due to Neptune's promise, she returned to her apartment once again and they spoke via text messaging through the days and every few nights they would met up at the park at 1 A.M. as established the first night. As time went on, Neo grew more comfortable with Neptune and opened up to him a bit more. However, there were some things she withheld from him; one of the things being, of course, her employers' plans. Even so, she let him in as much as she would allow herself.

* * *

Then, tonight happened. Neo was alone a half hour after 1 in the morning.

"Neptune's never late… Why is he late…?" Neo asked herself as she looked at her scroll. No messages. "He lied, didn't he…?" She wiped her face and she started walking out of the park. "Good bye then, Neptune…"


End file.
